Getting Lucky (A Nugget Romance Book 5) Page 8

  “He’s married to Harlee and sometimes comes over to fix things.”

  “What kinds of things?” Lucky was curious.

  “A leak in the tub and our garbage disposal. He’s nice.”

  “As nice as Jake?” Lucky winked.

  “No one is as nice as Jake.” It was cute how her whole face lit up when she talked. He’d noticed it when she’d described her boots. A little theatrical. Tawny had never been like that as a kid, at least as far as he could remember. She’d always seemed timid. Except for that time in the park.

  “What about me?” he asked her.

  “I don’t know you,” she said, and then got embarrassed, like maybe she shouldn’t have said it.

  “I know, honey. I’m real sorry about that. More than you’ll ever know. But we’re gonna fix it.”

  A week later, Lucky went in for his blood test. Tawny didn’t know how she’d have the patience to wait for the results. Tonight, especially, she found herself at loose ends. Reluctantly, she’d let Cecilia take Katie for the night. Her daughter’s first sleepover. Tawny had made sure to give Cecilia all her emergency numbers, with the assurance that Cecilia would check in with her before Katie went to bed.

  As far as work, Tawny had finished Sam’s boots and was too beat to start another pair. Harlee had called earlier and asked Tawny if she wanted to join her and a few friends at the Ponderosa. The old bowling alley and dive bar had been renovated by two women from the Bay Area and was now as nice as anything you’d see in Reno. Without the slot machines and craps tables, of course. So Tawny did the rare thing and accepted the invitation. She’d only known Harlee a short time. They’d met because the Nugget Tribune owner had done an article about Tawny’s boot-making business. The story had actually gotten Tawny a few customers, and she’d instantly bonded with the live-wire reporter, who now sent her husband over every time the Wade house needed a quick repair.

  She did a final check in Katie’s full-length mirror and decided she looked presentable for polite company. Wherever Tawny went, she tried to wear a pair of her own boots. She liked to show them off. And tonight was no different. This time, she chose one of her vintage designs—a pair with black vamps, beige uppers, and overlay and inlay hearts and scrolls. She wore them with a short denim dress and an old Nudie’s of Hollywood jacket she’d bought in a thrift store. The shopkeeper had sworn that it used to belong to Gram Parsons.

  By the time she got to the Ponderosa it was already hopping. Harlee waved at her from the back of the restaurant, where she, Sam, and Owen’s daughter, Darla, had commandeered a corner table.

  “Nice boots,” the police chief, Rhys Shepard, called from the bar where he was having drinks with his brother-in-law and Clay McCreedy. The men beckoned her over.

  “Thanks,” she told Rhys.

  “I saw Jake’s pair and have been meaning to come over. You got anything left for someone with big-ass feet?”

  “Sure I do.”

  “How long until my custom pair is done?” Clay wanted to know.

  “I just finished Sam’s. You’re the next one up.”

  The girls were waving wildly from the back. Tawny nudged her chin at them. “I’d better get back there.”

  She said goodbye to the men and made her way to Harlee’s corner.

  “About time,” Harlee said.

  “Sorry. I kept getting waylaid.”

  “Because you look so cute,” Darla said. Darla was Nugget’s resident hair stylist. “But it’s time for a cut, girl.”

  “I know,” Tawny said. “I’ve just been so busy.” And broke. “I’ll make an appointment on Monday.”

  Sam waved to her from the other side of the table.

  “Hey,” Tawny said. “If I’d known you were coming tonight, I would’ve brought your boots. They’re done.”

  “Yay!” Sam clapped her hands. “I can’t wait to see them.”

  “Come by tomorrow and pick them up. I should be in my studio all day.”

  “I have an event to oversee at the Lumber Baron in the morning. But I’ll come over after that.”

  “You’ve been holding out on us.” Harlee pulled her into a chair, grabbed a clean glass from the center of the table, and poured her a margarita. “Lucky Rodriguez, huh?” She mouthed Oh my God.

  “Yeah.” Tawny huffed out a breath. Clearly word was out. “It was a long time ago. Well, obviously nine years and nine months ago.”

  “And you never told anyone?” Darla asked.

  “It’s complicated, but no.”

  “It’s because of Raylene Rosser, isn’t it?” Darla asked.

  Harlee and Darla had no qualms asking the most personal of questions. Of course, it was Harlee’s job. In Darla’s case, she took after her father. The old barber had no boundaries. But Tawny didn’t mind. The women meant no harm and had been better to her than most of the girls she’d grown up with. Although Owen had been here as long as Tawny could remember, Darla had grown up in Sacramento with her mom. Harlee had recently moved to Nugget from San Francisco, where she’d been a big-time reporter for the Call. Sam, who was more reserved, probably due to her Connecticut society upbringing, had only lived here nine months.

  “Raylene was part of it.” Tawny didn’t want to get into the details. “But it’s all good now.” At least it would be if Lucky was a match.

  “How’s Cecilia taking it?” Darla asked.

  “Uh, we’re tiptoeing around each other. But she’s crazy about Katie.”

  “Uh, duh. Who wouldn’t be? The girl is so cute, right? And Cecilia is so nice. She’ll get over it.”

  Tawny sincerely hoped so. She liked Cecilia, always had, and didn’t want to be on her shit list.

  “What about Lucky?” Harlee passed her the chips and salsa. “Is there a chance that you two might start where you left off?”

  Tawny laughed because she and Lucky’s start amounted to a quickie behind the Taylor Park swing set. “Nooooo. There’s absolutely nothing there. He’s with Raylene.”

  “That explains why last week he was the one to fetch her drunken ass from the Gas and Go in the wee hours of the morning,” Darla said. “Griffin saw the whole thing.”

  Aha. So that’s where Lucky’s poor judgment comment had come from. “How drunk was Raylene?” Tawny asked.

  “According to Griffin, drunk enough to pull the do-you-know-who-I-am card with Detective Stryker,” Darla said, and Sam burst out laughing. “Griffin said it was kind of sad, because afterward she fell apart. Just sat on the floor and bawled her head off about her ex leaving her for her best friend.”

  “Okay,” Harlee said, “I’ve only met her once, but I don’t get what Lucky sees in her. Granted, she’s very pretty, but she sort of struck me as a narcissist.”

  “Something about her, I guess.” Tawny shrugged. “But as long as I can remember, Lucky has been in love with her. I mean the guy literally carried her book bag in the eighth grade. By the ninth grade he beat up anyone who looked at her sideways. Perhaps part of the appeal was that she was forbidden fruit. Old man Rosser wouldn’t let his little princess date the help’s illegitimate son, so they carried on in secret. It was very Romeo and Juliet.” And kind of pathetic if you asked Tawny. But she’d give Lucky credit for his loyalty. Even after all these years.

  “So how did you guys get together?” Leave it to Darla.

  “Let’s just say I was his revenge sex.”

  “Was it because of whatever happened at the Rock and River Ranch the night Lucky left Nugget?” Darla persisted.

  Technically it was the morning after, but Tawny didn’t contradict. The whole town knew that something bad had happened at the Rock and River that night. Something so bad that Lucky had hauled ass out of Nugget without so much as a backward glance. There were all kinds of rumors, including that Lucky had shot and killed a ranch hand for trying to get in Raylene’s pants. But few knew the true story.

  “I can’t say,” Tawny told Darla. “I’m sworn to secrecy. Plus, I don’t want any of
it getting back to Katie.”

  That stopped the questions, and the group went on to discuss Griffin’s love life at length.

  “He’s dating,” Darla said. “But he’s still hung up on Lina, who pretty much lives in San Francisco full-time now while she’s going to school.”

  “Who’s he dating?” Sam asked. “Maybe Tawny should go for him.”

  The last thing she needed was another man who was in love with someone else. She’d done that with Lucky and it had crushed her. Although she’d just been a kid, he’d been her first love . . . her first everything. Tawny thought that she and Lucky were a lot alike. He’d never been able to get over Raylene and she’d never been able to get over him. Pitiful. And definitely time to move on.

  “All I know is that she’s a real estate agent—someone showing homes at Sierra Heights,” Darla said. “He hasn’t brought her around yet. But we’re getting a group together for bowling and hopefully he’ll bring her to that. You want to come too, Tawny?”

  Darla and Harlee regularly organized bowling outings at the Ponderosa. They started doing it back when they were single, inviting all the other single young folks in town. Since then, Harlee had gotten married to Colin and Darla was engaged to Wyatt Lambert, a police officer with the Nugget PD. Now it seemed that even Griffin was hooked up. Other than Connie, the police dispatcher, Tawny would be the only single person there.

  “I’ll have to see what’s going on,” Tawny said. Life was pretty much on hold until they knew whether Lucky was a match for Katie.

  Harlee put her hand on Tawny’s arm. “I know you’re waiting to get Lucky’s results back. If he’s not a match, I want you to know that Colin and I plan to be tested.”

  “Nate and me as well,” Sam chimed in.

  “Uh, I’m totally in, too,” Darla said. “And you can count on Wyatt.”

  Tawny’s throat clogged. “I don’t know what to say. You guys blow me away. The next logical person would be Cecilia, since she’s a blood relation. But if she’s not a match, I will take you all up on your generous offers.”

  “Of course,” Harlee said. “You can include just about everyone in town. We’d do anything for Katie.”

  “Thank you.” It came out like a whisper, because Tawny was too choked up to talk.

  “Hey”—Darla motioned to the other side of the room—“look who just walked in the door.”

  Raylene Rosser and her girlfriends made their way across the floor. Hannah, Debbie, Shelly—Tawny remembered them all from middle school. Not the nicest bunch. Although they seemed to be more toxic when Raylene was around. Of course they were all adults now. Debbie and Shelly lived over a few towns in Clio and were married with children. Hannah, divorced, lived and owned a gift shop in Glory Junction, thirty minutes away.

  Tawny knew she’d been spotted by the group when the women huddled together and Raylene’s head popped up to stare directly at Tawny. Raylene did a double take, her face going pale, as she quickly turned away.

  Tawny had to give it to Raylene, she looked good. Her hair was longer and blonder than when she’d left Nugget, and either she’d filled out in the chest department or had had a boob job. Either way, men seemed to be enjoying her new look from the way they were gawking at her. Although they always had. Raylene just exuded that all-American cheerleader look. Perky and doe eyed.

  “According to Griffin, she looked really trashy the night she came into the Gas and Go, smashed,” Darla whispered. Why she whispered, Tawny didn’t know, since you could barely hear over the jukebox anyway. “Supposedly she had the girls completely on display. Nothing but a black lace bra.”

  Tonight, Raylene dressed like the rest of the women in the Ponderosa. Jeans, sweaters, and Western boots.

  “Perhaps we should go over and introduce ourselves,” Sam suggested. “I feel like we’re being judgmental. And snotty.”

  “I’ve already met her,” Harlee said. “She came into the Tribune office to buy a want ad. The Rock and River is looking for ranch hands.”

  “Well, I feel like I should at least say hi,” Sam said. “Anyone coming with me?”

  “I’ll go,” Darla said.

  When they both looked at Tawny, she shook her head. “I’ve known her my entire life.”

  Sam and Darla walked over to Raylene’s table while Harlee poured Tawny and herself another margarita.

  She held up the pitcher. “I’m gonna refill this at the bar. Be right back.” Tawny tried to give her money, but Harlee wouldn’t take it. “You can get the next one.”

  Right after Harlee left, Sam and Darla returned to the table and grabbed their seats.

  “FYI,” Darla said, “she’s a bitch.”

  “Darla!” Sam reprimanded.

  “What? I’m just being honest. All she did was bad-mouth Nugget—she called it Deliverance—as if she’d grown up in Denver instead of here. And, Tawny, she does not like you.”

  “The feeling is mutual.” Tawny laughed.

  “I think she feels threatened by you. She kept saying—”

  “Darla, let it go,” Sam said.

  Tawny didn’t need to hear. It was probably the same crap Raylene used to say when they were teenagers, when she’d called Tawny ugly, poor white trash, and a slew of other unoriginal names. The most clever one being hermaphrodite. Tawny had always wondered where Raylene had learned such a big word.

  Tawny thought that after ten years of living in a metropolitan city and going through a nasty divorce, Raylene would’ve grown up a little. But when Tawny’s cell phone pinged with a text message from Cecilia, she didn’t give Raylene Rosser a second thought. Tawny had real problems.

  Chapter 7

  Lucky paced his mother’s living room. “You sure we shouldn’t take her to the hospital?”

  “Yes,” Tawny said. “The fever is mild and at the hospital there’s always risk of Katie getting an infection. I’ll just watch her tonight and if necessary take her to Stanford tomorrow.” Tawny turned to Cecilia. “Thanks for texting me.”

  “The poor baby wanted her mother,” Cecilia said, and Lucky had never seen his own mother look so worried. Well, maybe once before.

  “You okay, Mama?”

  “Of course. I’m just worried for Katie.”

  “So she always gets these fevers?” Lucky asked.

  “It’s a common symptom with AML,” Tawny said. “That and rashes, bruising, and sometimes bluish-green lumps around her eyes.”

  “Pobrecita.” Cecilia dabbed her eyes. “I hope you don’t mind, but I also called Jake. I panicked because she was completely fine when she went to bed and then suddenly she was burning up.”

  As if on cue, Lucky heard a door slam outside and a few seconds later Cecilia ushered Jake into the house.

  He gave Cecilia a hug. “I was on duty when you called, but Rhys agreed to fill in.”

  “Thank you.” Cecilia burrowed in closer to the detective.

  “We’re okay.” Tawny gave him a wan smile. “The fever is down now and Katie’s sleeping.”

  “I’ll make you a bed, mija.”

  Lucky was surprised that his mother had used the endearment on Tawny.

  “I’ll just sleep with Katie,” Tawny said.

  Cecilia took Jake into the kitchen to fix him a snack. Lucky eyed Tawny’s outfit.

  “Were you out?”

  “Just at the Ponderosa with a few friends.”

  “You see Raylene there? She was going with Hannah.”

  “Yeah,” was all Tawny said, and Lucky suspected Raylene got the surprise of her life when she got a load of Tawny.

  Every time he saw her, he couldn’t believe how beautiful she’d become. Despite a rather long awkward phase, he’d always thought Tawny was cute in a tomboy sort of way. Back then, she’d been all bones and sharp angles. Now, she looked like freaking Angelina Jolie. And he liked the Western getup she had on. It was real sexy, without being slutty.

  “You make those boots?” He toed her foot with the point of his Ariat.


  “I did.”

  “Nice.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “You think your mother has a nightshirt or something I can borrow to sleep in?”

  “If she doesn’t, I probably do.” He got up, went to one of the guest rooms, and rummaged through his spare stuff. When he came back, he held up a brand-new toothbrush and a National Finals Rodeo shirt. “Will this work?”

  “That’s great,” she said, and took both items.

  The shirt would probably swallow her up, but Lucky kind of wished he could see her in it. Funny, because he’d spent most of the day seeing Raylene in nothing. Things were going well between the two of them. Tomorrow he’d hoped to introduce her to Katie. But with Katie being sick, he wanted to wait.

  “You hungry?” he asked her.

  “No. You?”

  He shook his head, tossed her a throw blanket, and sat on the couch next to her. “What friends?”

  “Huh?”

  “I was just curious about who you hang out with. When we were kids, you didn’t seem to have too many friends.”

  “I was busy taking care of my dad. And later Katie. But recently I’ve been socializing with a few of the women who are newer to Nugget. Harlee Roberts, Sam Dunsbury Breyer, and Darla, Owen’s daughter. Remember her? She used to come around to visit her dad when we were growing up.”

  “A little bit, I guess. How come you’re not dating anyone?”

  She let out a breath. “Between being a single mom to a daughter with AML and running my own business, I don’t have a lot of time. Before Katie got sick I was seeing a park ranger. For a while there we were pretty serious.”

  “What happened?”

  “Katie and I were spending a lot of time in Palo Alto and he and I drifted apart. Last I heard he got transferred to Southern California. How ’bout you? You marry or get serious with anyone while riding the circuit?”

  “Nah. Too busy moving around.”

  “Did you know about Raylene’s divorce when you came back?”

  He stretched out until his shoulder rested against hers. She didn’t seem to mind, so he stayed that way. “I’d heard about it. It’s not why I came back, though. That just turned out to be a coincidence.”